Crystal Gorge

Narasan shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he replied. “Of course, when you’re talking about that family, it’s kind of hard to say for sure. They can be almost anyplace, and you can’t always see them.”

“I’ve noticed,” Sorgan said in a sour tone of voice. “Did she pay you yet?”

“Oh, yes. Those people throw gold around like it didn’t mean a thing.”

“How much?” Sorgan demanded. “I’m not trying to pry something out of you that’s none of my business, Narasan. I just want to make sure that Dahlaine’s not trying to cheat me.”

“I think our employers all got together and agreed on certain numbers, Sorgan. Aracia gave me twenty-five of those lovely gold blocks just last evening.”

Sorgan nodded. “Dahlaine gave me twenty-five yesterday too. You’ve got twice as many men as I have, though. You should have held out for more, don’t you think?”

“I didn’t really feel like haggling with her, my friend. That shrill voice of hers sets my teeth on edge. How long do you think it’s going to take your fleet to get on north to Dahlaine’s part of the Land of Dhrall?”

Sorgan shrugged. “Three—maybe three and a half weeks. It sort of depends on the weather. We’re getting fairly close to autumn, and the weather can turn sour without much warning. Anyway, we’ve both been through these wars a couple of times, so we know how to hold the bug-people back when it’s necessary, and we can count on some help from our employers. Once we know for sure which part of the Land of Dhrall the bug-people will hit next, we should be able to join forces before things get out of hand.”

“Probably so, yes,” Commander Narasan agreed. “How’s your supply of that bug-venom holding out?”

“We’ve got plenty, Narasan,” Sorgan replied. “That poison’s almost worth its weight in gold.”

“I’ve noticed, yes.”

“Did Veltan give you any kind of idea about how long it’s going to take him to deliver those animal riders that he’s bringing up there to help me?”

“Horses, Sorgan,” Narasan said. “They call them horses.”

Sorgan shrugged. “Whatever,” he said. “I don’t really think they’ll be very useful when the bug-men attack.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Sorgan,” Narasan disagreed. “I’ve heard some stories about what happened over in the Land of the Malavi. The horse-soldiers’ speciality is surprise attacks. They whip in, kill about half of the foot-soldiers on the opposing side, and then they ride away—at a dead run. In many ways, they’re very much like you Maags. You both specialize in speed.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it that way,” Sorgan conceded. “I’ll have to see them in action before I make any decisions. When do you think Veltan’s going to be able to get them up to the north country?”

“He wasn’t very specific, Sorgan.” Narasan shrugged. “You know how he is sometimes. I don’t think he sees time in quite the same way as we do.”

“That’s probably because that pet thunderbolt of his has fried his brains,” Sorgan said. “Try to keep Lady Zelana’s sister from flying apart, if you can. Oh, one other thing.”

“Yes?”

“Would it be all right if I borrow that young officer Keselo? He and Rabbit and Longbow make a good team, so we probably shouldn’t separate them.”

Commander Narasan gave his friend a sly smile. “Of course, Sorgan,” he said. “We can talk about how much he’s going to cost you some other time, can’t we?”

“You wouldn’t!” Sorgan exclaimed.

“Fair is fair, Sorgan,” Commander Narasan said with mock seriousness.

Commander Narasan prudently let the Maag fleet leave the harbor first. The Maags had a longer voyage ahead of them, of course, but Andar was fairly certain that the commander’s decision was based on something a bit more significant than simple courtesy. The Maags were fiercely competitive, and Andar had noticed that Sorgan’s control of the other ship-captains in his fleet was marginal at best. Andar was almost positive that if Commander Narasan had ordered the Trogite fleet to set sail, some—if not all—of the Maags would have taken that to be a challenge, and a boat-race right now was the last thing they needed.

After the Maag ships had cleared the harbor, Commander Narasan ordered the Trogite fleet to set sail. The sun was well up now, and Andar was obliged to shade his eyes as the fleet came out of the harbor. That was the one thing about sailing that Andar didn’t like. There wasn’t any shade, and the sun always seemed to be just out in front of the ship upon which he was stationed. He turned then and walked on back to the stern of the Victory. The rest of the fleet was wallowing along behind, so Andar went to the main cabin to report the progress to the commander.

Veltan’s older sister was in full voice as Andar entered the cabin. “Any fool can see that the creatures of the Wasteland will attack my Domain next,” she told Commander Narasan and Queen Trenicia in a shrill voice. “My older brother is just trying to assert his authority by robbing me of half the forces I’ll need before too much longer.”

“Sorgan and I have been through this twice before, Lady Aracia,” the commander assured her. “We have ways to delay the enemy if it’s necessary. Maag ships are almost as fast as the wind. If the enemy attacks your Domain, my people will be able to hold them back until Sorgan joins us.” He turned to Andar. “How’s it going?” he asked.

“The last of the ships have cleared the harbor, Commander,” Andar replied, “and we’ve got a favorable wind. I’m fairly sure that we’ll make good time today.”

“Could you give me an estimate of just how long it’s going to take us to reach Lady Aracia’s temple?”

Andar scratched his cheek. “If the wind holds, I’d say about ten or eleven days. If what we’ve been told about the bug-people is anywhere close to the truth, it’s going to take them at least twice that long to move a significant force into Lady Aracia’s Domain, and that should give us all the time we’ll need to build fortifications. Then, too, once our ships have unloaded our men, they’ll be free to sail on down to the Isle of Akalla and pick up Queen Trenicia’s army and bring it on up here. I’d say that Lady Aracia’s Domain’s going to be well-protected before the bug-people show up in any significant numbers.”